Google Trips: This iOS, Android app gives you all your travel data plus offline access
Google's new Trips personal travel planner for iOS and Android is available now.
Google has released a new app that aims to take the stress out of planning a trip, or to make it easier for those who don't plan anything until they've hit the ground.
Google already adds the details of flight bookings received in Gmail to Google Calendar, but if you still find it a pain to search for such information when planning a journey, Google's new travel-planning app, Trips, could be the answer.
Once the app is opened, it's populated with a list of past and currently-planned trips, which can be downloaded to a smartphone. The data covers reservations, day plans, and recommended sights to see, meaning that on-the-go day planning can be done even without an internet connection.
Helpfully, Trips automatically organizes all flight, car, restaurant and hotel-booking confirmations received in Gmail under a Reservations tab for each location based on individual trips.
The app's other features might cut the time spent researching a destination and then organizing that information to access it when it's needed.
For the 200 destinations currently covered by Trips, the app offers basic travel guide overviews of the place you're exploring, combined with recommendations drawn from Google's other services, such as restaurant reviews from Google Maps. The service also offers information on popular sights, attractions, and hidden gems based on data and recommendations from other travelers.
Besides Reservations, Trips' categories include Things to do, Day plans, Food and drink, Getting around, and Need to know items, such as local emergency numbers, chemist opening hours, and currency.
The Food and drink tab, for example, offers an overview of local cuisine and specialities, typical dining times and prices, and nightlife tips. The Top spots menu offers a list of highly-rated bars and restaurants, ordered in categories including family-friendly, high-end dining, and budget.
The Day plans section offers a series of themed one-day itineraries: for example, Barcelona's day plans include Barcelona for Art Lovers or Gothic Quarter Highlights.
Day plans can also be customized with a little help from Google's 'magic wand' button, which offers a number of suggested plans to fit just the morning, just the afternoon, or the whole day.
Destinations can be added to a route by pinning a location of interest and new suggestions can be made by tapping the magic wand again. The app will then plot out how long it takes to walk to each destination, and lists opening times and how long visitors typically stay at the spot.
Google Trips is available for iOS and Android now.
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